I’m here
by Artdork1
Summary: Matt was able to escape Omega One and Mrs. Deverill but at the cost of something that would affect him gravely and that would change his entire journey.
1. Chapter 1: Loss

**Welcome to my new book, I hope you guys enjoy reading this book and I hope you like the idea. I will say this because I don't have the books with me I will be writing the dialogue and the scenes by memory so if it's different than the book then that's just my horrible memory. Now let's get on with this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Power of five/ The Gatekeepers series**

_A few days ago_

In Hive Hall at night, Jayne Deverill and Michael Marsh were discussing their plan to release the Old ones and how they would be able to accomplish this. They wanted this plan to go off without any mistakes, it was Sir Michael Marsh himself who suggested the idea to meet up at night so Matthew Freeman wouldn't eavesdrop on them.

"I assume the boy is doing fine." He said as he took a sip from his tea.

"He's an annoying pest who has no respect for his elders but I've slowly weakened him throughout his stay," Mrs. Deverill responded with a sinister look in her eyes. "What I don't understand is why won't you let me starve or hurt him, it would be easier to control him that way."

"Matthew Freeman is a clever boy, we need him to trust us and to make sure he doesn't know our true intentions of bringing him here." Mrs. Deverill was not pleased with this response but kept it to herself. "I should be going now but before I leave I need to give you something."

Sir Marsh then took out a bottle out of his bag and gave it to Mrs. Deverill, the bottle was clear but the liquid inside it was a bright color of green that felt a little warm.

"A man who claims he is working for the Old ones gave me this," Sir Marsh started. "He told me that the effects are irreversible, not even the strongest of magic would make a difference."

"Well, what is it exactly?"

"He never told me, he just said to use on the boy in case anything happened."

After that Sir Michael Marsh left Hive Hall, Mrs. Deverill then left her chair and started looking for a good place to hide the bottle in case Matt decided to snoop around her house again.

_Present_

Matt Freeman was currently strapped down to a table, the village of Lesser Malling was surrounding him as they were waiting for Sir Michael Marsh to kill Matt. Richard was trying to escape from his restraints so he could save Matt and himself but it was effortless, all hope seemed lost for the young boy. It was then that Matt saw Michael Marsh in front of him, knife at hand and ready to sacrifice him to the Old ones, he closed his eyes and waited for the knife to plunge into his chest...but it never happened.

He opened his eyes to see a shocked Michael Marsh and the knife just barely touching his skin, Sir Marsh was trying to push the knife down but it was like something was preventing him.

'My powers!' Matt thought to himself, he then used his powers to move the knife away from him and to free him from his restraints, he quickly undid Richar's restraints and the two of them quickly escaped from the room with an angry Jayne Deverill chasing them. They found a door down that they believed could lead them to their escape but once they entered they noticed a strange blue liquid underneath the walkway.

"Acid," Richard stated as he looked down.

They saw a door at the end of the walkway so they quickly ran for it, they were halfway through the walkway until Richard got knocked out. Matt turned to see Mrs. Deverill standing there ready with a pole in her hand, ready to end the boy's life, Matt was too tired to use his powers again, so he was powerless.

"Looks like you don't have enough energy to use your powers again, Matthew." Mrs. Deverill taunted as she swung the pole at Matt, she missed him in the process but was able to make him lose his balance. "We should have just kept you weak, starve you, but Michael didn't allow me."

It was then that Mrs. Deverill pushes him towards the rail and pinned him with the pipe by his neck, with a sinister smile and an evil glare she was ready to push him off until she remembered the bottle Sir Marsh gave him. She brought it with her in case anything were to go wrong with the sacrifice but at that moment she decided to use it as a way to show Matthew Freeman to never cross her.

"I've always hated you, Matthew, and as a parting gift I'll give you something that Michael gave me." She took out the bottle from her coat, took the cork off with her thumb, and started to pour the bottle on Matt's eyes.

"AHHHH!" Matt screamed in agony as he felt it burning.

Before Mrs. Deverill could continue she was then pushed off of Matt, she turned to see Richard conscious again, he then proceeded to push her over the railing and into the acid, causing her to scream in agony as well.

"Matt! Are you okay!" He shouted as he ran towards the boy who was trying to get the liquid out of his eyes.

"It burns, Richard, it burns, help!" He screamed, just wanted the pain to stop.

"Don't worry, after this, we'll get you to a hospital." The journalist then grabbed Matt's hand and started running towards the door, once he opened he heard flowing water, he ran towards the noise to see water flowing down.

"Why did we stop?" Matt asked.

"We have to jump."

"What!"

"It's okay, just trust me."

Matt nodded as he tightened his hold on Richard's hand, the two jump down only to land in the water of the river, once they made it out they quickly swam to shore.

"We're out," Richard said as he helped Matt out of the water. "Come on, let's get you to a hospital, and fast."

_Timeskip_

Richard was waiting in the lobby, hoping that Matt was going to be okay so this crazy adventure would be over. It may sound ridiculous but he really cared about the boy, even if they just met a few days ago, he didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Mr. Cole." Said a man with a white coat on and a clipboard in hand. "I'd like to speak to you."

Richard got up from the seat and followed the doctor to a door that said 'Matthew Freeman' on the side, he opened the door and gesture him to go in. He walked in only to see Matt in bed with bandages around his eyes, Richard looked at the doctor to see if it was okay to go near him. Once the doctor gestured an okay he walked towards the boy and placed a hand on Matt's shoulder, Matt flinched at the sudden contact but Richard calmed him down.

"Richard?" He questioned as his face turned towards his.

"I'm here." Richard smiled.

"We gave him some medicine for his eyes to lessen the pain, the bandages are so he could avoid bright light, especially in his current condition." The doctor explained.

"You told me that you wanted to speak to me."

"Yes, both of you actually." The doctor began as he clears his throat. "We ran some test on Matt's eyes to see how damaged they were and once we finished them we quickly learned something about Matt current condition, it's difficult me to say this to you two... but Matt's blind."

**So that's where we'll be leaving it off for now, pretty obvious what this book is going to be about. I know that a lot of this was just mostly recapping the first book but I had to or else it would make no sense, I do suggest leaving me some criticism in how I can improve this story since I really want this to be good. Take care you guys, PEACE OUT!**


	2. Chapter 2: Home

**New chapter, I know I left the previous chapter on a sort of cliffhanger but that was to build tension and so I can explain everything here instead of cramming everything into one chapter, like I do with a lot of my work. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Power of five**

"Matt's blind."

Those words echoed in Matt's head as they kept repeating over and over again. There had to be some kind of mistake or a maybe a misreading, maybe the doctors were just playing some kind of sick joke on him, or maybe he heard him wrong.

"What? That can't be," Richard spoke in shock and worry. "How is this possible?"

"When we were checking his eyes we noticed severe damage to the retina, the pupils, the cornea, etc," The doctor explained, "It's severe damages to these parts that could lead a person to become blind since the eyes need them to work but because these parts in Matt's eyes are severely damaged, his eyes can't function."

'Please no, please, I've already lost my parents, I've already lost what was suppose to be a normal life, I've lost so many things in life so please, don't let me lose my sight.' Matt pleaded, hoping that maybe somehow this could be fixed and he wouldn't have to worry.

The room was silent for a bit, Matt and Richard were in too much shock to even comprehend the situation that was being told to them.

"You two can leave after I give Matt some medicine but if you would like we could keep Matt with us for a few days." The doctor then put a hand on Matt's shoulder. "What do you think, Matt?"

In response, Matt just shook his head no and sat still. Matt didn't care at that point, he didn't care about anything at that point actually, he just wanted to go home.

"I understand, now let me just get you some medicine for the pain, some sunglasses, and you can go home."

"What are the sunglasses for?" Richard asked as he snapped out of his shocked phase.

"They'll help protect his eyes from UV rays since they could cause more damage to the eyes for him." The doctor quickly explained as he then the room.

After he left, Matt and Richard were left alone but they weren't very talkative to each other, instead, they were lost in thought.

'This is my fault, if I was just stronger then maybe he wouldn't have ended up blind, life's been hard on him already so please don't make it harder for him.' Richard blames himself, he felt responsible for the boy's condition but he wasn't the only one who was blaming themselves.

'Why why why! If I was just stronger, if I wasn't an idiot, if I wasn't a terrible kid then I wouldn't have gotten into trouble, I wouldn't have gone to Hive Hall, then I wouldn't have gotten into this mess!' Matt started to shed a few tears at that point, it would have gone unnoticed but the bandages around his eyes were getting damp because of them.

"Matt, are you...crying?"

"No no no, I'm fine."

"Matt, you know you can talk to me if you want."

"I'm fine." Matt was starting to get a little irritated.

"I mean it Matt, I understand that this is a difficult situation for you to be dealing with and I want to make sure you're okay."

"I said I'm fine!" Matt snapped, he didn't mean to snap at him like but he couldn't handle it at that moment, he was starting to feel so many emotions at that it became overwhelming, especially when one of them was anger.

It became silent once more after that. The doctor later came in to give Matt his medicine and two pairs of sunglasses. He then proceeded to removed Matt's bandages which reveal two very pale grayish blue eyes. He explained to Richard how Matt had to take one pill each night until the pain lessen, after that he put a pair of sunglasses on Matt's face and helped him out of bed. They soon left the hospital and called for a taxi to get them back to the flat, needless to say, the ride was very quiet. Once they made it to the flat it was up to Richard to guide Matt carefully up the stairs since he didn't know the place that well, he guided him until they were inside the flat, where he was able to guide Matt to the couch so he could sit down.

"I'm going to order something to eat, do you want anything?" Richard asked.

"I'm not hungry." Matt's words were then proven wrong as his stomach growled loudly.

"Yeah no, I'm going to order you something."

"I'm fine, I'm not even that hungry."

"Matt you haven't eaten anything since yesterday in the morning and your stomach just growled right now," Richard pointed out. "You're hungry and I refuse to let you starve yourself."

This was one battle Matt just couldn't win and to be honest, Matt was practically starving at that point, he just didn't want to burden the journalist even more. Richard ordered some food for the two of them and waited for it to arrive, once it arrived they started to eat but Matt was barely touching his food, Richard noticed this.

"You have to eat, Matt."

"As I said earlier, I'm not hungry."

"And like I said earlier, you haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

"Maybe I'm just someone who doesn't feel hungry all the time."

"Matt, don't be ridiculous, you and I both know that you're starving."

"I'm fine." Matt was starting to gain a tone similar to when he snapped at Richard at the hospital.

"You are not fine, you haven't eaten since yesterday and you're still severely injured from both Omega one and the museum," Richard argued as he tried to reason with Matt. "Face it, Matt, you're not in the greatest condition."

"I said I'm fine!" He yelled as he slammed his hands down, Matt soon realized that he snapped again and decided it would be best if he just slept. "I'm going to bed."

He got up and tried navigating toward the stairs but it wasn't long before he almost hit a wall. He then heard a chair move then felt a hand on his arm but he just pulled back gently.

"At least let me help you get to your room, I don't want you getting hurt."

Matt was reluctant to let Richard help him but he was too tired to argue with him again so he let him. Richard guided Matt upstairs and into the spare room he let him borrow, once Matt was certain he was in the room he moved away from the journalist and tried finding the bed he slept in the night before.

Once Matt found the bed, Richard was feeling okay in leaving him here so he can get some rest. He then walked towards a small nightstand and started pushing it towards the bed, Matt heard this and turned his head to the sound.

"I just thought that maybe you would like a nightstand so you can put your sunglasses there," Richard stated.

"Thanks." He took off the sunglasses he was wearing and placed them on the nightstand while he was trying to hide his eyes, he's seen how blind people's eye look like and he feels self-conscious in showing them to anyone, that's why he still wore the sunglasses in the flat.

"Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight," Matt responded as he got into bed.

Richard then left the room hoping that tomorrow would be a better day for not only himself but for Matt as well.

**I'm posting this really late but it's mostly because I want to get this done today instead of on a later day, I did want to put a scene here that I'd been thinking about since I made this book but I decided that since this chapter is long enough I might as well put it in the next chapter. Have a wonderful day/night guys, PEACE OUT!!!**


	3. Chapter 3: Talk

**Hey guys, here's another chapter of "I'm here", it's a bit more longer than the two previous chapter so I hope you enjoy it**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Power of five series**

The next few days were puzzling, to say the least, the day after they left the hospital Richard received a newspaper from one of his co-workers that he was fired because he hasn't been at work for a couple of days. Matt felt guilty when it happened and said it was his fault that now they fired him, but Richard assured him that it wasn't his fault.

Not only that but Matt had been acting different throughout the next couple of days, he rarely talks to Richard and only answers in simple one word forms, he doesn't eat much throughout the day and is always hesitant in getting help to navigate anywhere. To Richard, it felt like this wasn't even the same Matt who needed his help when he stayed in Lesser Malling, the same Matt who told him everything about his past, the same Matt who he argued with when they left the hospital. That Matt left the moment he stepped out of the room and was then replaced with this Matt who is deprived of feeling any emotion at all, but Richard can't hold that against him, he just can't, Matt lost something that he can never get back so he's allowed to feel this way.

Richard just worries on how this might affect his mentality.

Matt was in the living room listening to the TV while Richard was looking through the newspaper to see if his story got published, that was something that also happened the day he got fired. He wrote about what happened in the museum, Omega One, and Lesser Malling but true to his words he left Matt's name out of the story. Of course, before he actually wrote anything he asked Matt if it was still okay for him to write the story, all he responded with was a shoulder shrug and an "It's fine.", even with the approval he still felt a bit uncomfortable writing it.

"You've got to be kidding, there's nothing here." Richard quietly said to himself, not wanting to alert Matt. The journalist turned to look at the boy with the sunglasses on his face and started thinking.

'I wonder what Matt's thinking about, I know that with the situation he's going through right now a lot of things might be going through his head but... does he know that he doesn't need to face it alone?' He asked himself, 'I told him that if he needed someone to talk to I'm right here but now he barely even talks to me.'

Richard lowered his head as he placed a hand on his forehead, tears started appearing.

'For god sakes, he's just a kid, he's suffered enough and doesn't deserve this.' More tears started to fall. 'I should have been there for him, if I wasn't so weak then maybe that witch wouldn't have had the chance to pour that stuff on him and he wouldn't be like this, it's my fault.'

Richard felt more tears run down his face knowing that Matt's life was never going to be the same because of him.

'I'm going to make this right, tonight I'll try talking to him and ask him what he's going through,' he thought to himself as he started wiping away the tears. 'I wasn't there for him at Omega One but I can be there for him now.'

Once he was sure that there were no more tears he looked at Matt again.

'I promise.'

_Later at night_

After they finished with dinner, Richard helped Matt up the stairs and into his room like they did every night. It basically became a daily routine, they would finish dinner, Richard would help Matt up the stairs, Matt tries to find his bed, and when he does they say goodnight to each other, but tonight Richard has decided to say more than just goodnight.

Once Matt placed his sunglasses on the table, he went to his bed and said goodnight in a monotone voice.

"Matt... I want to talk to you." Richard said, Matt sat up and looked at him with a blank stare.

"What is it?" He responded with no emotion in his voice.

"I want to talk about how you've been acting recently."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Well you've been acting rather reclusive lately, you haven't been eating a lot, you only answer me with either a one-word sentence or a short sentence, and whenever you do speak or do anything it's like you have no emotions."

"So?"

"Matt this isn't you, I may have only met you recently but I know this isn't the same Matt I met at the Gazette," He told him directly as worry started to overflow his mind. "I'm really worried about you, I know the reason you're acting like this is because of you losing your sight and it's okay to feel this way but you don't have to go through this alone. I'm here for you, you can talk to me and I'll listen but you have to let me know if you're ready so we can talk."

It got quiet all of a sudden, Matt was facing down throughout Richard's ranting and stayed quiet. Richard waited for Matt to say something, worried that maybe he was a bit too direct, that is until Matt spoke.

"You want to talk, fine." Matt's tone was different, he sounded irritated and annoyed, not only that but his volume was getting higher as he proceeded to talk. "Let's talk about how horrible my life has been up to this point, let's talk about how I don't understand anything now, let's talk about how I'm a terrible kid who could have avoided this if he had more than one brain cell, or let's talk about how I AM NOW BLIND AS A DAMN BAT BECAUSE OF HOW STUPID AND IDIOTIC I AM IN THINKING THAT MAYBE JUST MAYBE I COULD HAVE A NORMAL AND HAPPY WITH NOTHIN WRONG HAPPENING TO ME!"

Anger was written all over Matt's face as he lifted his head to face Richard, an emotion that Richard hadn't seen since dinner a few days ago.

"I was stupid to think I could be happy, that I could just go on in life without thinking about this, that I could just be...normal." He said as tears started to form. "But I'm never going to be normal, I'm just going to keep being a freak that no one cares about and that no one will listen to because of the stupid mistakes he made before and before you know it I'll end up dying alone with no one to remember!"

"Matt stop!" Richard intervene. "Stop saying this about yourself, you know damn well that I care about you."

"No you don't, the only reason why you're letting me stay here is that you need a stupid story to help your career and before I know it you'll be kicking me out."

Richard got irritated with Matt's response. "Do you honestly think I would be that cruel to kick out a blind child who has suffered enough throughout the past few weeks?"

Matt got quiet, he knew Richard wasn't like that, in fact, if it wasn't for him he would probably be dead by now. Richard took a deep breath to cool himself down then he started talking.

"Matt I want you to understand that if I didn't care about you then I wouldn't be standing here trying to talk to you about your situation," He stated to the boy. "And we won't be getting anywhere if we continue to argue so please...just talk to me, tell me what's going on inside your head so I can help you."

Matt then realized something, all this time he thought he was alone, that he had no one left to help him, no one who would listen to him but in reality, there is someone who wants to help him and he's standing right in front of him, he was just too upset to notice.

Matt nodded as he was trying not to cry more than he already was, he then felt a sudden warmth and two arms around him. While Matt was lost in his owns thought, Richard decided to go and hug the boy as a way to comfort him, Matt couldn't hold back the tears anymore.

Tears were pouring down his eyes fast, he was hiccuping and sniffling a bit as he tried to calm down but he couldn't, no one but his parents have ever hugged him like this and he really missed that safe feeling he always felt when they hugged him, knowing that it was going to be okay.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I-I'm so s-so sorry." He stuttered out as tears just kept pouring out. "I-I just t-thought that *hic* if I just s-shut down m-my emotions then maybe *hic* I-I wouldn't have t-to d-deal with the pain *hic* b-but each day I was j-just getting worse and I just *hic* I'm s-sorry."

"Shh, It's okay Matt, you don't have to apologize." The journalist reassures him as a way to calm the boy down. "Breathe in, breathe out, okay, it's going to be okay."

The rest of the night was Richard just trying to calm the crying Matt down, it ended up with a tired Matt sleeping on top of him and Richard just trying not to wake him up as he tried leaving to go to his own room. Once he was free he tucked the boy in properly, ruffled his hair, and started heading towards the door.

And with a smile, he said "Goodnight Matt."

_Next morning_

'I hope everything going to be okay now.' Richard thought to himself.

Richard was in the kitchen making some breakfast for him and Matt while he was drinking coffee, he was hoping that maybe Matt was ready to talk to him and he wouldn't have to deal with this alone. His thoughts were then interrupted when he heard a voice coming from up the staircase.

"Hey Richard, mind helping me or do you want me to wing it?" He asked in a smug tone, Richard chuckled.

"Don't worry, I got you." He accepted as he got up from his seat and went to go help him.

Once Matt was down the stairs he started walking on his own.

"Wait Matt you're going to hit the-!"

"Ow!"

"wall."

"Yeah, I think I need to learn my way around the flat."

"Well how about in the afternoon we try navigating around the flat, that way you know where everything is and you know your surroundings much more better."

"I'd like that." He responded with a smile.

'I think everything going to be okay.'

**Well that was an emotional roller coaster, now you see why I had to make this it's own chapter than putting it in the second chapter, it didn't feel right putting it along side it and it would obviously make the chapter longer, leave some criticism down in the comments so I can make this better. PEACE OUT!!!**


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